Gambrel Roof

I just purchased a house with a 2 story detached garage immediately behind the main home. It has the gambrel rood line, which we find unattractive next to the house. I would like to change to a gabel roof with a large dormer. How intense will this be to renovate this structure? We basically want the garage and a small walk in attic space for storage. This will pull the detached garage more in proportion with the house.

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Gambrel Roof

The last 2 story gambrel roof I built, the trusses basically made up the exterior walls of the second floor.
If yours is the same and looks like it could be, would need to remove the whole second floor and rebuild.

I would let the looks grow on me a bit, before jumping into that project.

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Gambrel Roof

[QUOTE=funfool;1172309]The last 2 story gambrel roof I built, the trusses basically made up the exterior walls of the second floor.
If yours is the same and looks like it could be, would need to remove the whole second floor and rebuild .

rimoore .

Like funfool , I built one of these . the room and roof were built into the trusses . you would need to remove everything from the ceiling up .

If you do end up rebuilding , make sure that your new trusses are designed for what ever you are doing in the attic .

Gambrel Roof

Having done this about 20 times or more it is a lot of work and takes a a lot of manpower. If it was built correctly the second floor lower roof slopes are angled walls built on top of the second floor. If I was bidding this as a job I would remove the upper slope roof, the front and rear lower slopes and try to cut and reuse the end walls for the new gables. We were usually adding a second floor but the procedure is the same. I would put two new rafters against the inside of the end walls, mark the bottom of the rafters on each stud and cut off everything above the lines, set the rafters on top then put the new roof on the old deck. I would guess demo, disposal, and framing would take 5 experienced men a week to two at least, depending on conditions.